[johnsonjunior]

I first learned about Pessoa in the mid-80s. My mother sent me his selected poems after visiting Portugal. She was, at the time, living in Holland with my step-father. Portugal would remain her favorite country on the continent, after seeing most of Europe.

I took to Pessoa right away. I actually thought at the time, mistakenly, of course, that I was in rare company, an English reader of his works. It felt like a discovery, almost for myself alone.

Had at one time a copy of The Book of Disquiet, and lost it. Then I purchased Zenith's Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa. This thread is helpful, regarding what to go with when I purchase Disquiet again.

It also made Pessoa that much better for me to read Saramago's brilliant The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, which I'm guessing you folks have discussed here before. My second favorite Saramago novel, after Baltasar and Blimunda.

Pessoa was a giant.